Beyond Strategic Kaizen: Performing Synchronous Profitable Operations

The challenge for manufacturing organizations is to achieve their expected profit by continuously improving productivity or reducing costs. To achieve this, organizations have been using different improvement approaches such as eliminating excess inventory, workforce, capacity, and utility consumption. However, many organizations forget their real aim – to make a profit for their stakeholders. Strategic Kaizen thinking is a new paradigm of thinking of strategic improvements that aims to achieve synchronous profitable operations by fulfilling takt time and profit demand. The book presents the seven processes of Strategic Kaizen methodology and examples of its successful application in two multinational manufacturing organizations. By adopting the Strategic Kaizen methodology, organizations can enter a new paradigm of thinking of strategic improvements to meet annual and multiannual target profits in a unique and effective way.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 266 pages
Publication date: 16 February 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

The challenge for manufacturing organizations is to achieve their expected profit by continuously improving productivity or reducing costs. Manufacturing organizations have been using different improvement approaches to achieve cost reduction and productivity improvement for years by eliminating various losses and waste structures, such as excess inventory, excessive workforce, excessive capacity, excessive utility consumption, and so on. However, the problem is not solved. Often manufacturing companies focus on maximizing the flow and meeting customer needs but forget their real aim – to make a profit for their stakeholders. Too many organizations meet customer expectations by seeking to continuously synchronize the flow to market demand but forget to check that they are doing it profitably enough to ensure business continuity and prosperity. When the financial results show that they are not so profitable, it is already too late. Moreover, the strategic direction of systematic improvements according to the sales trend – depending on the current degree of production capacity utilization and its dynamic effects on cost structures – is deficient in many manufacturing companies. So, would the failure of strategic and profitable systematic improvements be an option? Of course not! If the ultimate goal of the organization is to create target profit for stakeholders, then the behavior and strategic systematic improvements must be directed to those scenarios, strategies, tasks, problems, and "production levers" that are best based on creating the target profit. That's what Strategic Kaizen thinking does – the simultaneous and consistent achievement of systematic operational and financial improvements in a strategic and operational manner. It achieves this by focusing on the customer and the organization's long-term goals, while also identifying and eliminating waste and inefficiency. Strategic Kaizen thinking is a powerful tool for manufacturing organizations looking to improve their performance and achieve their desired outcomes. By focusing on the customer and the organization's long-term goals, while also identifying and eliminating waste and inefficiency, Strategic Kaizen thinking can help manufacturing organizations achieve their desired outcomes.

Weight: 442g
Dimension: 229 x 152 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032330358